Some people will go very long lengths to protect their secrets. I've done the same too but there's only so much you can deny when the evidence is presented right to your face. But still, some people just keep lying.
Humans are weird like that.
Elliot shook his head, eyes finally averting from Peter. He looked around the shop for a few seconds before his eyes twitched and he focused in on Peter again. There was plenty of information that he had that he hadn't given over that he knew just yet. He knew everything.
"You guys broke up because of her dad. You still follow her every day. You take lots of pictures of her too. You're not over her are you?"
Peter could be over her for how good Elliot was at actually understanding human interactions but usually if you were over someone you didn't continue going out of your way to stalk them.
Peter felt his blood running cold in his veins, Elliot had hit the nail on the head. Somehow this guy had managed to find out secrets that Peter thought he’d kept hidden pretty well. How could he have even done that? No one saw his pictures, they went from the little preview screen on the camera straight to his computer’s hard drive. There wasn’t any kind of cloud that he used (because he may not have been the smartest kid when it came to hacking — building computers was more of his thing, not figuring out the programs that made them work — but he knew just how easy it was to snatch pictures from the cloud and post them online. That’s how all those celebrity nudes got leaked, after all.). Someone would have had to physically get into his house and look through his things.
Had this guy broken in? Gone through all of his things, but not taken any of it. And for what reason? How would s a few pictures of Gwen prove anything other than he was still caught up on her. Pictures of his ex girlfriend didn’t instantly mean that he was Spider-Man, it just meant that he couldn’t get over someone.
Peter felt more confused than he had at the start of the conversation, he didn’t want to question Elliot any further, didn’t want to admit that the other had been right in any part of his little accusation, but his own mind was spinning with questions of his own.
Why was he doing this? What did he want? Why did he have to bring up Gwen, of all people? His one true weakness in the whole world.
“Why do I follow her? I wanna protect her. I really love her and it’s… There’s a lot of reasons why we can’t be together, so it’s just easier for me to watch her from far away, you know?” He still hadn’t admitted to the whole Spider-Man thing. He could still follow her around and take pictures of her as a normal guy.
Elliot had been asking why Peter was Spiderman but the answer that the other gave him was just as telling. "You can't be with her because her dad died. He was the police, right? He found out your secret I bet. Your behavior started to change around then."
The whole watching someone from far away didn't seem creepy or weird to Elliot. Who was he to judge? He followed people's online and digital footprints all the time. That was more invasive than following around someone with a camera in his opinion. You could find out almost everything about a person online.
"Why are you Spider-Man? Is it because of your Uncle? Or your parents?"
The more that Elliot talked, the more that Peter felt his anxiety rising, that similar feeling to when he'd been seeing the face of Gwen's dead father haunting him around ever corner. He was right, her dad had gotten too close, he'd found out out one of the biggest secrets in Peter's life and it had got him killed. And maybe that was all part of the risk that came with being a member of New York's Finest, but Peter had taken on every last ounce of the guilt for it, despite how much Gwen may have tried to tell him otherwise.
He was backed into a corner at this point. Elliot had already unraveled everything, put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. He knew that Peter Parker and Spider-Man were one in the same long before he'd decided to actually question him about it. No matter how careful he may have been, Peter should have known a day like this would come -- he didn't expect it to be some random, jittery guy coming up to him while he was trying to work, but it was better than someone who was trying to kill him. Which had been the scenario that he'd always pictured. Something about his real identity always seemed to have death attached to it.
He felt a tinge of hurt at the mention of both his parents and his Uncle. More victims that were caught in the crossfire -- whether that was the truth, Peter still took the blame for it either way.
"It's... There's a lot more to it than that." Peter looked around, lowering his voice out of some kind of paranoia that Elliot had caused to form inside of him -- if the other had figured him out, who was to say that someone else could just by listening in on their conversation. "I've just always been this guy that's been picked on. I've had a bully since pre-k and... I dunno," Peter scratched the back of his head, shoulders shrugging. "I got these powers one day and it was basically I could be one of those dudes who was always picking on the little guy, or I could be the guy saving 'em. It's about doing the right thing..." At that, his Uncle's words rang loudly in his head. "Great power, great responsibility, you know?"
Elliot was glad when Peter decided not to deny it anymore. He could have convinced him but that would've taken longer and this was the easier way, the better way. Again, Elliot wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to accomplish but he knew that Spider-Man was important and that meant that Peter Parker was important.
"Like Voltaire," Elliot nodded and the words were true enough. He knew that he had a power too and there was an immense amount of responsibility that was added with it. Maybe he and Peter could work together. That'd be nice.
"I'm trying to do the right thing too... Save the world."
Peter nodded slowly, more than happy to attribute the quote to Voltaire than to spend any more time thinking about his Uncle. The wound still felt fresh to him, like he hadn't ever quite gotten over the death of the man and was still haunted by the memory of that evening, how he had only been a short distance away when his Uncle's life was taken -- and how his pride had caused him to let the murderer go running right past him.
It was truly a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a series of unfortunate events that all culminated to the man being murdered. A freak accident that Peter honestly shouldn't have taken the blame for as much as he did, but it was something that he couldn't shake.
Thankfully, Elliot's words pulled him from his thoughts and wallowing in them any longer. Elliot was trying to save the world? He didn't look like the superhero type -- not that there was really any kind of 'look' when it came down to it. He was pretty sure he didn't look much like one either, but he was out there swinging from building to building damn near everyday, so who was he to judge? Wasn't that the point of the whole secret identity? "... How?"
Elliot sat back, an awkward smile pulling at his lips at the question. "Starting by taking down EvilCorp," he answered. He'd done his research and seeing Peter in person he had decided this was someone that he could trust, someone to bring in. Maybe they could even be friends.
Peter raised both of his brows. E Corp? Was Elliot serious? The largest corporation in the entire United States, the conglomerate that ran literally every aspect of their life and was currently in the midsts of a deal to acquire all of Oscorp as well? That E corp? This guy wanted to try and take them down? Sure, Peter might have considered it something of his duty to take down whatever forces of evil were at work, he would have even went as far as to say that he was a superhero -- despite how ridiculously comical the entire idea of it was -- but this felt like too big of a feat for just him and someone decked out in a hoodie that he'd only just met. Even if they did seem to have pretty impressive investigatory skills.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take down E corp? You're fucking joking right? You know they literally own everything" Peter reminded the other, though he was pretty sure that Elliot was well aware of just how much of a monopoly the corporation had on every aspect of everyones lives -- his phone was branded with the ominous E, all of the screens in Times Square at some point advertised something that the company made, or held a patent to, the credit card that Peter had used to get his coffee was even under their thumb. How the hell were they supposed to take it down?
And for what reason even.
"I'm not out here trying to fight the system or take down the man or whatever. White collar crime isn't really my bag, you know? I'm more of the guy who is roughin' up dudes that're trying to commit mass murder." Peter shook his head, taking another sip from his coffee, out of some kind of rising anxiety that he felt cropping up again. He wanted to help save the world, he wanted to change it and make a difference, but this seemed too big for either of them. It definitely seemed way to big for him, he was just some kid in a spandex suit, how the hell could he have been of any use? "I think you've got the wrong guy. I dunno how I can help you, man."
"I know everything about them," Elliot said confidently. He knew how to take them down. He had a plan. Fsociety was going to do it. But Spiderman, he could definitely help. There were a lot of dangers that the hackers just weren't prepared for on their own and Elliot knew he needed to help protect them.
"We're going to take them down. It's more than white collar crime. They're murderers too," Elliot said insistently. They'd murdered too many. Mass murderers by the thousands.
Peter still felt worried. He wanted to make a difference, he felt some kind of weird obligation to help people now that he'd gotten these kinds of strange new abilities, but going all the way to the very tip-top of the ladder? Why didn't this guy just ask him to go assassinate the President while he was at it?
No, Peter didn't want to bring that kind of snarky response into play. He was actually somewhat worried that the other might actually think he was serious and actually start thinking up a plan to do so. Spider-man or not, Peter was sure that he'd get tossed into jail for trying to kill the leader of the country.
"Okay, but what am I supposed to do? Isn't that the job for, like, some kind of hacker group? I'm not really inconspicuous swinging around the city all decked out in the suit, you know?" He wasn't agreeing. Before he went jumping into some crazy plan head-first, he needed details.
Elliot knew that the other had taken the hook now. He watched him for a long moment. Darlene was the only other person that knew that he'd planned this and even she thought it was a crazy idea -- even for Elliot. But what they were doing was dangerous and what he really wanted was protection for the people he cared about.
But he had a feeling he couldn't sell it to Peter like that. At least not right away.
"Not everything that needs to be done can be done from behind the computer." That much was true.
"You've got some useful credentials but as Spiderman, you have another thing we don't have. You can talk to an asset or target in person. They'll respect you one way or another."
Peter practically snorted in laughter at the idea of being respected. Sure, there were plenty of people in the city who saw Spider-Man as the hero that it needed, someone to do what NYPD just wasn't doing and someone to speak out for those who couldn't for themselves. But, there was also a large amount of people who thought that fighting crime was best left to New York's finest and that Spider-Man was doing nothing more than meddling in places that he had no business being involved in to begin with. What were to happen if all these people that he came up against thought he wasn't anything more than some troublesome kid with a complex.
Peter wanted to help make a difference, but he just couldn't fit himself into the plan that Elliot was laying out for him -- it seemed he'd end up more than a hinderance than an actual ally.
"Have you read the papers lately, dude? There's a lot more people who think I'm a menace to society than somebody who's doing any good. And I got a feeling that these E Corp guys are somewhere in that group, too." Peter shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "You want somebody that people will actually respect and listen to, then you probably need to be calling up Captain America or IronMan. I'd be of better use to you as Peter Parker, and that's not really saying much."
"I said one way or another," Elliot repeated himself which he didn't like to do often. His fingers drummed on the table quickly, this was the difficult part. Getting him to agree to help them. If he were honest they needed someone like him but he definitely didn't need a group of hackers and it would probably get a whole other set of problems for him if he did get involved with Fsociety.
"I don't need you...for that. I need someone to help protect the people I'm working with." That was the truth, the motive behind trying to get some 'hero' behind the cause that was wildly illegal even if it was the right thing to do. They were playing a dangerous game and they weren't prepared for every part of it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-16 09:41 am (UTC)Humans are weird like that.
Elliot shook his head, eyes finally averting from Peter. He looked around the shop for a few seconds before his eyes twitched and he focused in on Peter again. There was plenty of information that he had that he hadn't given over that he knew just yet. He knew everything.
"You guys broke up because of her dad. You still follow her every day. You take lots of pictures of her too. You're not over her are you?"
Peter could be over her for how good Elliot was at actually understanding human interactions but usually if you were over someone you didn't continue going out of your way to stalk them.
"Why do you do it?"
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-16 09:38 pm (UTC)Had this guy broken in? Gone through all of his things, but not taken any of it. And for what reason? How would s a few pictures of Gwen prove anything other than he was still caught up on her. Pictures of his ex girlfriend didn’t instantly mean that he was Spider-Man, it just meant that he couldn’t get over someone.
Peter felt more confused than he had at the start of the conversation, he didn’t want to question Elliot any further, didn’t want to admit that the other had been right in any part of his little accusation, but his own mind was spinning with questions of his own.
Why was he doing this?
What did he want?
Why did he have to bring up Gwen, of all people? His one true weakness in the whole world.
“Why do I follow her? I wanna protect her. I really love her and it’s… There’s a lot of reasons why we can’t be together, so it’s just easier for me to watch her from far away, you know?” He still hadn’t admitted to the whole Spider-Man thing. He could still follow her around and take pictures of her as a normal guy.
Just a creepy, normal guy.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-16 11:29 pm (UTC)The whole watching someone from far away didn't seem creepy or weird to Elliot. Who was he to judge? He followed people's online and digital footprints all the time. That was more invasive than following around someone with a camera in his opinion. You could find out almost everything about a person online.
"Why are you Spider-Man? Is it because of your Uncle? Or your parents?"
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-17 12:52 am (UTC)He was backed into a corner at this point. Elliot had already unraveled everything, put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. He knew that Peter Parker and Spider-Man were one in the same long before he'd decided to actually question him about it. No matter how careful he may have been, Peter should have known a day like this would come -- he didn't expect it to be some random, jittery guy coming up to him while he was trying to work, but it was better than someone who was trying to kill him. Which had been the scenario that he'd always pictured. Something about his real identity always seemed to have death attached to it.
He felt a tinge of hurt at the mention of both his parents and his Uncle. More victims that were caught in the crossfire -- whether that was the truth, Peter still took the blame for it either way.
"It's... There's a lot more to it than that." Peter looked around, lowering his voice out of some kind of paranoia that Elliot had caused to form inside of him -- if the other had figured him out, who was to say that someone else could just by listening in on their conversation. "I've just always been this guy that's been picked on. I've had a bully since pre-k and... I dunno," Peter scratched the back of his head, shoulders shrugging. "I got these powers one day and it was basically I could be one of those dudes who was always picking on the little guy, or I could be the guy saving 'em. It's about doing the right thing..." At that, his Uncle's words rang loudly in his head. "Great power, great responsibility, you know?"
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-17 01:21 am (UTC)"Like Voltaire," Elliot nodded and the words were true enough. He knew that he had a power too and there was an immense amount of responsibility that was added with it. Maybe he and Peter could work together. That'd be nice.
"I'm trying to do the right thing too... Save the world."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-17 07:15 am (UTC)It was truly a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a series of unfortunate events that all culminated to the man being murdered. A freak accident that Peter honestly shouldn't have taken the blame for as much as he did, but it was something that he couldn't shake.
Thankfully, Elliot's words pulled him from his thoughts and wallowing in them any longer. Elliot was trying to save the world? He didn't look like the superhero type -- not that there was really any kind of 'look' when it came down to it. He was pretty sure he didn't look much like one either, but he was out there swinging from building to building damn near everyday, so who was he to judge? Wasn't that the point of the whole secret identity? "... How?"
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-18 05:26 am (UTC)He wasn't counting on the last part.
"You can help me. I can probably help you too."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-18 06:05 am (UTC)"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take down E corp? You're fucking joking right? You know they literally own everything" Peter reminded the other, though he was pretty sure that Elliot was well aware of just how much of a monopoly the corporation had on every aspect of everyones lives -- his phone was branded with the ominous E, all of the screens in Times Square at some point advertised something that the company made, or held a patent to, the credit card that Peter had used to get his coffee was even under their thumb. How the hell were they supposed to take it down?
And for what reason even.
"I'm not out here trying to fight the system or take down the man or whatever. White collar crime isn't really my bag, you know? I'm more of the guy who is roughin' up dudes that're trying to commit mass murder." Peter shook his head, taking another sip from his coffee, out of some kind of rising anxiety that he felt cropping up again. He wanted to help save the world, he wanted to change it and make a difference, but this seemed too big for either of them. It definitely seemed way to big for him, he was just some kid in a spandex suit, how the hell could he have been of any use? "I think you've got the wrong guy. I dunno how I can help you, man."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-19 02:18 am (UTC)"We're going to take them down. It's more than white collar crime. They're murderers too," Elliot said insistently. They'd murdered too many. Mass murderers by the thousands.
"We need someone like you."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-19 09:14 pm (UTC)No, Peter didn't want to bring that kind of snarky response into play. He was actually somewhat worried that the other might actually think he was serious and actually start thinking up a plan to do so. Spider-man or not, Peter was sure that he'd get tossed into jail for trying to kill the leader of the country.
"Okay, but what am I supposed to do? Isn't that the job for, like, some kind of hacker group? I'm not really inconspicuous swinging around the city all decked out in the suit, you know?" He wasn't agreeing. Before he went jumping into some crazy plan head-first, he needed details.
idk
Date: 2016-08-21 01:43 am (UTC)But he had a feeling he couldn't sell it to Peter like that. At least not right away.
"Not everything that needs to be done can be done from behind the computer." That much was true.
"You've got some useful credentials but as Spiderman, you have another thing we don't have. You can talk to an asset or target in person. They'll respect you one way or another."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-25 07:02 am (UTC)Peter wanted to help make a difference, but he just couldn't fit himself into the plan that Elliot was laying out for him -- it seemed he'd end up more than a hinderance than an actual ally.
"Have you read the papers lately, dude? There's a lot more people who think I'm a menace to society than somebody who's doing any good. And I got a feeling that these E Corp guys are somewhere in that group, too." Peter shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "You want somebody that people will actually respect and listen to, then you probably need to be calling up Captain America or IronMan. I'd be of better use to you as Peter Parker, and that's not really saying much."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-25 10:01 pm (UTC)"I don't need you...for that. I need someone to help protect the people I'm working with." That was the truth, the motive behind trying to get some 'hero' behind the cause that was wildly illegal even if it was the right thing to do. They were playing a dangerous game and they weren't prepared for every part of it.